Harry Potter & The Mad Disciple
by BryC
Summary: Harry Potter & his friends are starting their fifth year at Hogwarts. They will also meet a new girl from the US, who's just transferred to Harry's school.
1. Old Rivals & New Friends

Fan-Fiction is written by BryC & MalfoysGal66. Re-read by Mochaviolino Chapter One – Old Rivals and New Friends 

"Pass me some of those eggs over there, Ron" said Hermione, pointing at a plate of fresh fried eggs sitting in the midst of other dishes on the Gryffindor table. Ron lazily passed the plate to her and saw Harry, who just came down from the Gryffindor tower, walking towards them. 

"Mornin' Harry" Ron said with his mouth stuffed with two pieces of toast. 

"Oh Harry, Good Morning" greeted Hermione. 

"Morning" Harry called back and took a seat beside Ron. Just then prefects came striding down the hall and gave out new timetables to the students.

"You'd better eat fast Harry," said Hermione. 

"First lesson of the day, Potions, two periods, with Slytherins" said Hermione, reading from her timetable she'd just got from one of the prefects. The news made Ron and some other fifth-year Gryffindors sitting nearby groaned. 

Harry turned to Ron and nodded his head in agreement.

"Let's just hope that none of us get into any trouble. Snape will take points in a flash." Both Hermione and Ron nodded. 

"Yeah, that rotten ol' git'll take points from every house except Slytherin" Ron spoke through a mouthful of eggs and toast. 

"Those Slytherins could bring about the end of the world and he wouldn't do much more than give them a detention!"

"But hey, how much do you think my mouth can be filled at a time?" said Harry, taking a sip of pumpkin juice from a goblet that had just appeared from the table. 

Both Hermione and Ron had finished eating. Hermione, as usual, wasted no time and had her new book, 'A Guide To Transfiguration: Book 5' propped open against a milk jar. As for Ron, he was busy admiring his new collection of wizard cards he'd got for his 15th birthday.

The bell soon rang. 

"Just let me finish my omelette," said Harry. Ron and Hermione nodded and continued to talk about just how absurd Professor Snape was. 

Ron concluded loudly, "That Snape, you can't trust him as far as you can throw him!" Hermione and Harry just laughed as they headed down the dungeons for Potions class. 

Ron spoke up, " Fred told me that Slytherin's got a new house-mate. A girl just transferred here from another wizarding school. Somewhere in America..." 

"A new girl? Hope she's pretty" said Harry playfully. 

Hermione poked his back and teased, "What, Cho Chang's not enough for you? Besides, none from the Slytherin house I've seen is _nice_" The three of them laughed and Ron joked on how Harry and Cho Chang would be a perfect couple.

While they were walking down the corridor towards Potions class, Harry, Ron and Hermione distinctly heard a girl's voice. 

"Shh.." said Harry, wondering if maybe she was in some sort of trouble 

"Listen, you guys..." They listened and heard her shouting obscenities and every swear word under the sun. 

"DAMN YOU PEEVES!" The girl shrieked and then stormed off in their direction, as the three of them laughed their heads off.

The laughter was only broken by the presence of Harry's old foe, Draco Malfoy. He had always thought Harry was a rival to him in everything. For that, he had always been in Harry's hate list after Snape. Behind Malfoy were his two best friends or also referred as _bodyguards_ because they always followed him no matter where he went.

"Back to school for another year of adventure Potter?" said Malfoy. There was always the old sarcasm in his tone. Malfoy sneered and narrowed his eyes at Harry and Ron. 

"So tell me Potter," he began, his voice dripping with disgust, 

"What are you going to do this year? Save the Mudbloods again…" his eyes shot towards Hermione, "or something...else?"

An unfamiliar girl soon appeared behind Harry, Ron and Hermione. 

"What are you doing, Draco?" she asked. Both Harry and Ron turned to look at her as she came closer. Harry thought this must be the new student whom Ron was talking about a moment ago. Hermione, on the other hand, just looked on the dungeons' filthy floor, thinking how worse her day would get.

The girl had mysterious, large almond eyes and her hair fell past her shoulders, ending in small curls. She had a heart-shaped pink lips and a nose centred right in the middle of her face. She was almost too pretty to be in Slytherin. Her eyes shot between the three Gryffindors. The puzzlement in her eyes turned into malice and she looked at Draco, then to Harry.

"Oh hello, Frances Adams" said the new girl to Harry, sticking her hand out for a shake. But when her eyes shot at Harry's scar, she pulled it back at once.

"Aah...so _these_ are the Gryffin-_dorks,_" she said it slow and clear so that no one could miss a word. She smiled at her joke and narrowed her eyes at them. 

"The mudblood," she pointed at Hermione, 

"The poor kid," her finger darted to Ron, 

"...and the suck-up scarhead." her finger pointed right between Harry's eyes. Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle snorted with laughter when they heard this. Harry looked as though a hammer just hit the top of his head. Ron was no better. His palm was clenched on his copy of 'Potions for Intermediates' and his hair had gone redder than usual. But nobody seemed to notice that tears were filling Hermione's eyes. Frances turned back at Malfoy. 

"What's so funny, Draco?" She turned on her heels and walked into the classroom, throwing her books onto the desk loudly. Harry, Ron and Hermione were still standing there at the dungeons corridor, shocked of the new girl's attitude. Hermione blinked and the tears loaded in her eyes fell on to the floor. Apart from Malfoy himself, this was the second person she knew who had called her using that foul term for muggle-borns.

"It's alright Hermione, she's just jealous of you, that's all." Harry began after a long silence filled among them. Realising that they had noticed her crying, Hermione hastily wiped her tears off with the back of her hand.

"Yea Hermione, don't you eat her words," said Ron, trying to make up to her. Hermione tried to force a smile at them but she knew Ron was still burning with anger. Even though Ron always tried to hide it from Harry or Hermione, he also always hated the fact that he was poor. Not to mention all the hand-me-downs he had to live on.

"Come on, let's get inside," said Harry, trying to change the subject.

They walked into the classroom and took their normal seats, which were at the very front of the classroom. Snape had put them there so he could easily harass Harry with lots of questions. 

Meanwhile Frances was looking at her robes, which were stained with ink. 

"Damn that Peeves," she muttered and then pulled out some parchment. She tried wiping away at her robes, but it just wasn't quite working. 

Soon, Snape entered and had started his lecture on disenchantment potion. Every now and then, like always, he took off points from Gryffindor for any mistakes they did. 

While Snape was having fun bullying Neville, who had broken one of Snape's ingredient bottles for the second time now, Frances wasted every perspire she had trying to clean the stain on her robes. Her head was rattling on the inside, wondering of ways to get Peeves back for messing with her, so she hardly paid attention to Snape, who was calling her name and had been for a few minutes.

All of a sudden, Snape stood in front of her desk but Frances, whose nose almost touched the pages of her book, didn't notice he was standing there until he cleared his throat rather loudly. She looked up at him and blinked a few times, then looked back down at her book. 

"Yes, Professor?" she mumbled, still locking her eyes onto the words in front of her. Snape's upper lips were set into a straight line and annoyance glared in his eyes.

"What do you think you're doing, Ms Adams?" said Snape, looking down at her through his greasy black hair.

"Huh, what?" asked Frances blankly.

"It's your turn to test your disenchantment potion. But, I don't recall seeing you brewing anything since the start of the class?" said Snape, now moving closer to her.

She looked at him, even more puzzled now then slowly closed the book, raising an eyebrow at him. 

"Oh, I'm sorry...I wasn't paying attention." She spoke, a sarcastic tone ringing in her words. She smirked and opened the book again. 

"Oh Severus, I think that bottle is out of fix" 

He looked at her, puzzled and fuming at the same time. 

"What bottle?" he spit out. She smiled and threw her feet on the top of the table, purposely knocking over a particularly large bottle. 

"That one."

Snape looked at her like a raging bull. He was squeezing a bottle of flobberworm mucus tightly as though he intended to break it in his hands and his eyes were glinting with disgust. A tense silence instantly filled the room. Hermione clapped her hands over her eyes. She couldn't bear to see what was going to happen next. 

"What on earth does she think she's doing?" Ron whispered to Harry. Harry couldn't believe his eyes either. No one had dared to fight Snape's words back like this before, no one he knew at least. This was almost like stepping on a sleeping lion's head. 

"What's the meaning of this?" Snape spoke through his gritted teeth. Frances grinned and stared straight at the book, not daring to look at Snape. 

"Hey Severus, need help? You're lagging" She looked up at him and got up to grab a washcloth. She smirked at the Gryffindors as she passed them. She was particularly mean to poor Neville and she made sure to step on his foot, then screamed at him, accusing the nervous Neville of trying to trip her. She grabbed a washcloth then headed back towards Snape. 

"Here...you might need this." She threw a dirty torn rag at his feet like a house elf.

Snape looked down at it lying on his right foot. He kicked it away, looked up at Frances again and grabbed her by the collar.

 "I expect a better behaviour from you missy, first you've not made the potion I instructed, second you've just lost me my invisible potion..." pointing at the broken pieces of the large bottle that had scattered on the floor "and third," he gritted his teeth harder when he saw Frances smirk "you as a student, don't - call - teachers - by - their – first - name!"

 Frances was not entirely listening to his words even though she was looking at him straight in the eye. She looked as though she was more interested in counting the pimples on Snape's cheek. Realising that Snape had stopped talking, she gave an evil grin. It was obviously not the respond Snape had expected.

"Also, you'd better mind your manners when talking me or I shall send you back to that ruddy old school of y-" Snape was interrupted by something. He shifted his look his left. 

It was Malfoy. He, who was sitting beside Frances, raised his hand straight up in the air. He also had the shocking look like everyone else.

"What? Mr. Malfoy" Snape frowned at Malfoy. Draco gulped and looked at Snape from his seat.

"Well, Professor Snape, you see she's had a really bad day. Frances ran into Peeves and well...you know."

"What is it, Mr. Malfoy?" said Snape, looking at him with puzzlement on his face.

"P-Peeves, he" Malfoy stuttered as he glanced at Frances and turned back to Snape. 

"He harassed her," he said. Snape frowned again and gave Malfoy a look into his eyes as though searching for truth, and finally turned back to Frances again. 

"Well well well, Ms. Adams it seems very lucky of you to have a friend like Mr. Malfoy here. You might want to thank him for covering up for you. But even if it's true, still, I don't tolerate such behaviour even if you're in a bad mood or not!" Snape said and went away to the rest of the Gryffindors to test their potions.

Frances did nothing but nodded in response. She was shocked at the way Malfoy stood up for her and she had no idea why. When she was sure that Snape was out of hearing bounds, she turned to him and whispered, 

"Malfoy, what was that all about? " 

He gave her a puzzled look and then smirked.

"You're one of a kind, you're the only one I've seen insult the Gryffindorks and then insult Professor Snape after that!"

"Anyways, thanks," said Frances, giving him a smile, which stunned Malfoy by the look of it. 

She looked much prettier when she was smiling. In the next milli of a second, Frances held his hand. Ron and Harry who were sitting just across the other row of the desks noticed this. They frowned at each other at the sight of it and told Hermione, who was busy mixing the Wigentree Bark and Napallus Stem in her cauldron, about it. Both Harry and Ron pretended to vomit but Hermione, however, looked bewildered when she saw this.

"Malfoy?? with her?? no.." said Hermione, still fixing her gaze at them. 

"Why? What's the problem? Besides, cows need each other, don't they?" said Ron. 

"N-Nothing" Hermione said briefly and decided to return to her potion.

Before Hermione could turn back to her work, Frances somehow managed to notice her looking at them and then snickered loudly, whispering to Malfoy. She made sure to whisper loudly when mentioning what Hermione had said, giggling at Malfoy when his eyes widened. 

"What?!" he gasped. 

Frances raised her hand and asked to be excused, which took a bit of convincing since the bottle incident. She finally got her chance to get up then waited for Snape to turn around when she walked past the Gryffindors and pretended to drop her quill. 

"Oops" she said, and then bent down to pick it up in front of Hermione. Frances slowly stood up and held her hand out to her.

"I'm sorry," she lied and held out her hand to Hermione.

Frances watched Hermione think, then when Hermione reached for it, Frances quickly pulled it back, then leaned in closer to Hermione. 

She whispered, "Sorry, too late. You had your chance, you pathetic mudblood..." 

She turned to Ron and Harry and rolled her eyes at them, giggling to herself as she quickly walked out the door to avoid Snape in case he turned around.

It was a few minutes before Frances returned to the classroom and when she did, the first thing she did was to look at the damage she'd done, sniggering at Hermione who's eyes were red. Frances took her seat quietly, then looked at the board and copied down the night's assignment.

The rest of the class was just copying notes and listening to Snape's boring lecture on the function and effect of the disenchantment potion. At long last, the class was over. Everyone filtered out the class quickly as though they were out of oxygen. Harry and Ron were still making up to Hermione as they walked out of the class. When Frances had packed her books and ready to go, Snape suddenly called out, 

"Ms. Adams, I'd like a word," There was still a mix of annoyance and hatred within his eyes. Was Snape looking for revenge? Frances thought.

She nervously nodded and snuck a glance over to Malfoy, who seemed as stumped as she was. He shrugged and stood up to leave, mouthing the words, 

"I'll wait for you." Frances knew he wouldn't, but she nodded anyway, and stood up to see what Snape's problem was. 

"Yes, Severus?" she asked, finishing putting away her quills. 

"What's the problem?" She quickly looked up to see his eyes, which she could have sworn were turning redder by the second.

He seemed tired or rather no point of telling Frances again not to call him by his first name. Snape waited until Malfoy and the others had cleared the classroom before he began. He sat down at his desk and looked up at Frances who was standing abreast. 

"I want to talk about Mr. Malfoy." he said. 

Frances was pretty puzzled at this.

She wondered what she had to do with Malfoy and why it was any of Snape's business. 

"Well," she said impatiently eyeing the door, "What is the problem?" 

She sighed as she saw all the other kids shuffling their way to get to class. She looked back to Snape, complete annoyance in her eyes and voice.

"I don't think I have to mention it, you know it yourself." said Snape. This annoyed Frances a little. 

"Spit it, Severus," Frances blurted out. Snape frowned when she said this but he chose to ignore her and continue. 

"I know you fancy each other, you and Malfoy, he has been my student for 5 long years already and I've never seen him standing up for any girl before, not one."

She blinked a few times, trying not to laugh. 

"What...you mean..." She made a rolling motion with her hand, "You think we're a couple or something??" 

She raised an eyebrow at Snape, "Why is it any of your business? It's my life, not yours. I'll see anyone I want! Hell, I'd go out with that Weasley boy if I knew it would bother you."

Snape ignored her again. 

"The thing is, young lady, Mr. Malfoy happens to be a great student in my house ever since he came into Hogwarts. And I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to be a distraction to his performance in his work"

Frances looked insulted at the very idea. 

"You think I'm a distraction?!" She stood up, her voice rattling a few bottles. 

"Excuse me, SEVERUS, but I'd rather spend my time being distracted by HIM!! Your class is so damn BORING. I don't have anything else to focus on!!"

Snape got up from his chair and grabbed Frances by the collar. "What did you say? Did you say that my class is BORING?!" yelled Snape, now more furious than ever.

Frances gulped, but stood her ground. She squirmed her way out of Snape's grip and stood a bit back. 

"Oh, did you not hear me?" She asked and grinned. 

"I'll say it again for you." She cupped her hands to her mouth and hollered at the door, "SEVERUS SNAPE'S POTIONS CLASS IS BOOORRRIIINGGG!!!" She stood back and grinned, but her smile faded when she looked back at Snape who was fuming angry at her.

He had it. He had made the boiling point. Frances just gulped, stood back and watched the outcome of her words. 

Suddenly, 

"THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU! DETENTION AT HAGRID'S HUT! FOR A WEEK STARTING FROM TONIGHT! URGH!" Snape roared as though he was out of his mind. 

The next second, he snatched out his wand from his robes and pointed it at Frances. Before she could even blink, Snape had shot her out of the room through the door. She was thrown out along with her books and banged into the dungeons wall. 

"AND I WARN YOU, IF YOU GET ANY CLOSER TO MALFOY, YOU WOULD GET WORSE THAN THAT!" roared Snape, still pointing his wand at Frances, who sat leaning against the wall. Snape then muttered a spell and wrecked pieces of the door of was fixed where it was and it looked exactly like it was before. 

Frances's whole body was aching with pain. However, she quickly got up and pick up her books when she noticed the presence of Harry, Ron and Hermione. 

They stood there, eyes widened and jaws dropped. They were clearly shocked of what Snape had done. 

"There you go, you saw everything, you happy? Go on laugh it out!" Frances said, fighting back her tears. She then stormed off the dungeons without any further words.

They just stared after her, puzzled.

"Well with that kind of manners she's got, serves her right!" shouted Ron, so Frances could hear him

"Ron, shut up for a second," said Hermione, who felt sorry for Frances.

"What? I'm just saying the truth," said Ron defensively.

"Save your breath you two, come on, we've got Defence Against the Dark Arts next," said Harry, who felt very sorry for Frances.

            They nodded and set off to the third floor. Defence Against the Dark Arts happened to be one of their favourite subjects, which unfortunately was said to be jinxed because the professors who had taught them never lasted more than a year. They were, however, anxious to meet their new professor because this year it would Fleur Delacour who was going to teach them. 


	2. The Detention

Fan-Fiction is written by BryC & MalfoysGal66. Re-read by Mochaviolino Chapter Two – The Detention 

            "Come on, we've only got 3 minutes before the class starts," said Hermione, with her hair billowing behind her like her robes, a satiny sheen of dark and golden brown gleaming against the sun light as she ran. She had her books clutched in her right hand and the other was flinging, almost hit Harry in the face, who was running alongside her with Ron, who was also trying to keep up.

            "Hermione please, - not so – fas'. 'M sure – Fleur – woul'n mind if – we wer' a littl' 'ate," said Ron, trying to breathe as he ran.

            "Made it. Lucky class hasn't started yet," said Hermione, panting and smiling.

            Ron swallowed to clear the thirst that was burning in his throat and began, "Hermione, the next time before we run to any classes with you, do remind me to bring some water along."

            Hermione chose to not to reply but just rolled her eyes at him. Harry didn't say anything either. He was bending down, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Not even a minute afterwards, someone had patted on his back and he quickly turned around.

            "Fleur!" the three of them called out in unison, clearly excited to see her.

            Fleur Delacour was a French girl in her late teens, who had long silvery blond hair to her waist. She also happened to be whom Ron had a crush on. Her large, deep blue eyes along with a charming smile were enough to stun Ron unconscious. Ron, who went purple, was gaping at her as she approached and smiled at them. Fleur chuckled when Hermione had to push Ron's jaw up to close his mouth. Ron then went slightly pink.

            "Hello, it's nice to zee you again. How have all of you been?" asked Fleur.

            "Fine thanks," said Harry and Hermione. Ron, who went so scarlet, just nodded and did not say anything as if he had lost his voice. 

            "I have to say, I'm very lucky to get this job here at Hogwarts. All thanks down to Professor Dumbledore, hiz such a great man. I've always wanted to do zis."

            The three of them nodded, feeling excited and anxious as well.

            "How's my English now? I've been practising," said Fleur.

            "Much better," Harry said with a grin. Ron nodded frantically at her, which Fleur returned with a smile.

            "Thanks" she said, walking towards the entrance of the classroom and opened the door, "Now, go on, get it there, it'z almost time for zee lesson. Gryffindors and Slytherins, right?"

            They nodded and entered the classroom. Harry, Ron and Hermione decided to take the seats on the first row. Slowly, the other students filled the room. They were too, had been looking forward to meet their new teacher**. They too, were looking forward to meet their new teacher.******

            "Hello class, I'm Fleur Delacour, your new Defenze Against The Dark Arts teacher. As some of you probably remember, I wuz one of the champions in the Tri-Wizard Tournament last year along with Harry here, our dearly missed Cedric Diggory and Viktor Krum," said Fleur, looking at the sea of student in front of her. Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil and some of other students' faces went slightly blue when they heard Cedric's name. 

Cedric Diggory was a seventh-year, clever and friendly Hufflepuff boy. He was also popular in Harry's school and highly admired by almost all the girls in the entire school. But sadly, he was murdered by Peter Pettigrew or also known as Wormtail, one of Lord Voldermort's servants. 

"Okay, enough of introduction. Take out your Myth and Legends of The Dark Arts and turn to page five and six. Let's start discussing about Medusa and then move on to some practical work later. Shall we?" said Fleur, trying to cheer up all the long faces.

Just then, Frances came bursting in the room.

"Ah, no worries. Just in time, dear. Come in," said Fleur, smiling.

Frances looked at Fleur, gave a nod, and decided to go to the last row of seats at the end of the class. Her stomach lurched and felt her face went pink. She wished she hadn't burst into the class like that. All eyes were locking on her as she walked as quickly as she could to the back of the class.

Fleur cleared her throat to retrieve the students' attention. And the class began.

Fleur walked back and forth the class with a leather book opened on her palm. She was talking about the ancient Greek belief in medusa and their properties. Everyone seemed to enjoy listening to Fleur, well the Gryffindors at least. The Slytherins, on the other hand were hissing and mocking her under their breath, except Frances, who had something more important to worry about. Fleur had finally noticed what Frances was doing when she walked to the back again for the tenth time now. She was poking and scratching the surface of the desk with some kind of blade, feeling distressed. Fleur looked up from her book and peered down at Frances, who did not notice her presence.

"You know, we're still going to use that desk until the end of the year," she said.  
            Frances was jumped in her seat and looked up at once. She blinked a few times at Fleur, who then broke into a grin.

"What's your name dear?" Fleur asked.

"Uhmm..."- she said, trying to remember -"oh, Frances, Ma'am...Frances Adams." She answered shortly and then remained silent. She wondered what Fleur was thinking as she glanced back at her desk that she had been vandalizing earlier, writing "Snape sucks" on it with permanent ink that glowed red when one tried to erase it.

"Oh Frances, …right, you muzt be the girl from the US. Well you don't look so good dear, are you feeling all right? D'you want to lie down?" asked Frances kindly.

Frances shook her head. 

"No thank you, it's just that Professor Sn-" She seized her sentence at once. Suddenly she realized that talking about the problem she was facing in front of everybody else wasn't exactly a good idea at all. Instead, she just tried to smile, but it had been so long since she was last happy, all she could do was give a lopsided grin, that didn't look sincere at all.

"Hmm...well if you need to lie down, you could. But, don't be zo hard on yourself, all right?" Fleur spoke to her thoughtfully like a sister.

Frances gave her another half-grin, and put her head on her desk, wondering why Fleur was being so nice. She glanced over at Draco and then made a mental note to avoid him, since it was the first day, and she was already in major trouble because of him.

Fleur walked back to the front again, cleared her throat to shift their attention back to her. All of them turned their heads back to her again, except Harry, Ron & Hermione who were still looking at Frances, feeling sorry for what they'd seen. Thinking that there wasn't anything they could do at the moment, they decided to pay attention to the lesson again. The class was a lot of fun. They did some practical work on defending themselves against the curse of a medusa. 

"All right class, I guess we'll leave the lesson until here for today. Homework, kindly summarize for me the Greek legend of Medusa on page 6 and 7. You may go now," Fleur spoke to the excited sea of students.

They talked about how interesting and exciting the first lesson was as they filed out the class. When Frances had packed her books and was about to go, Fleur called out to her.

"May I have a word with you, Ms. Adams? Just for 5 minutes?" Fleur asked, sitting on a chair behind her desk.

Frances turned and nodded glumly. She stood up and paced down to Fleur's table. 

"Yes, Professor Delacour..?" She plopped herself down on an empty chair in front of her teacher, sighing. She looked up at Fleur, who was smiling softly. 

"It seems that something is bothering you, dear. Mind sharing it wiz me?" Frances sighed a bit and told Fleur everything; from her snide comments to Harry and his friends, to the weeks of detention she recieved from Snape. Fleur listened thoughtfully to every word she said.

"Hmm… I see, well I think I will be able to arrange the detention for you," said Fleur finally, winking at her.

"Huh? Wh-," Her words sank. Fleur had interrupted her and continued to speak.

"So this detention, it iz tonight?" asked Fleur.

Frances looked up glumly. "Yeah, tonight with the keeper of grounds…um...H-, something. I don't quite remember."

"Yes, Hagrid," correcting her. 

"Well I guess you may go now, have fun," Fleur added, grinning.

"Err…" Frances was obviously baffled by Fleur's statement. She didn't get why she should have fun when she'd got detention to attend. Nevertheless, she gave her a smile, gave her a nod and walked out of the classroom.

Later that evening, 

Frances went to the grounds, down to Hagrid's hut. She continued walking, feeling as if her feet were cemented into the ground

"I don't believe it - first day of school - a week of detention" she thought to herself.

She got to Hagrid's hut and knocked on the huge oak door until her knuckles had splinters in them. Within a few seconds, Hagrid appeared at the door. Frances, who had never seen anyone so enormous, widened her eyes and gaped at the sight of him. She moved her eyes from his big black boots to his massive head. She frowned at him when she saw his messy and hairy face.

"Oh it's ya, well c'mon in, just made some tea," said Hagrid, holding a big mug in his hand. 

She nodded and walked inside. She plopped herself onto a chair, wondering just how her day could possibly get any worse. She looked at her cup, which Hagrid had just filled with tea. Frances took a sip and pulled a face. 

"Eugh..." She pushed her cup away and leaned back onto her chair. 

"So... um, Haggard, what are we going to do for my detention?" she asked.

"Err... oh don' worry we'll be doin som'at  interestin'," Hagrid said, putting his mug down. Frances wondered what in the world they would be doing that was interesting. Or, rather dangerous. Malfoy told her about Hagrid having an unfortunate liking on big, exotic and dangerous magical creatures. He thought that the more dangerous they were the better.

There was a sudden knock on the door that made Frances jumped slightly.

"Oh tha' might be 'em," Hagrid, standing up to get the door.

"Them who?" asked Frances. 

"Well, they've volunteered t'help me wif what we're goin t'do" said Hagrid, turning the door knob and opened it.

Hagrid opened the door.

Of all the people whom Frances expected but Harry, Ron and Hermione had appeared at the door. Frances' face was contorted in a look of complete disgust as they walked in the hut. At an instant, she stood up and pounded her fist on the table. 

"You!" She screeched, pointing at them. "What are you doing here?!"

"Why the, Hagrid, why hadn't you told us that _this was here too?" scoffed Ron, pointing his finger back at her._

Frances flushed red. "What do you mean _this_?? You know perfectly well about what happened!" She kicked her chair under the table. Fuming with anger, she gave a hard punch on the table that made her fist swollen. She clenched her teeth, picked up her chair and sat back down on it, her eyes so filled with anger you could almost see flames in them. 

"Whatever," she mumbled and rubbed her fist, which had a splinter in it.

Harry seemed to sense her state of anger and sadness, all wrapped up together on the current look on her face. 

"Shouldn't have said that, Ron" Harry whispered.

Ron turned to Harry and opened his mouth to say something but Hagrid had begun.

"Alrigh' all of ya' we're goin' to the fores'," said Hagrid reaching for the door knob again.

"No way, I'm not going in there with _her_," said Ron, frowning.

Frances looked over to Ron with a look that was half hot-white anger and sadness. "I don't care if you go or stay, but I _have to. I don't want to be here. I'd rather be sitting up at my common room doing something else." Her eyes darted at each of their faces._

"Hagrid, let's go" said Hermione, trying to break the anger in the atmosphere in Hagrid's hut.

"Hermione's righ' now break it off yo' two," said Hagrid, who was at the door.

They emerged out of Hagrid's hut and walked silently into the grounds. Frances was walking behind them, looking at the grass that was shimmering feebly in the moonlight. She was still burning with anger and hatred. Ron was angry too, of course. Every now and then, he kept shooting evil glances at Frances, and scorning under his breath as he did so. Harry and Hermione were talking to Hagrid about whatever they were going to do.

Frances hopped a few paces and caught up with Hagrid. 

"So Haggard, what are we going to do, anyway?" She glanced over to Ron and then scowled to herself, looking up at Hagrid. 

"I was asking you before I was so _rudely interrupted," She purposely nudged into Ron a bit and gave Hagrid a quizzical look._

"You watch where you're going, and honestly how hard is saying Hagrid's name? Hagrid! Hagrid! Hagrid! Don't you get it?," said Ron, annoyed.

"Ron, don' ya start it over again," said Hagrid.

"We'll be feedin' baby hippogriffs, isn't it great? We'll be feedin them with some berries," Hagrid added excitedly.

Frances shot a malicious glimpse at Ron then turned to Hagrid. "Baby Hipp- what??" 

Her question was answered just then. Not, by Hagrid though. 

"We're not feeding those, are we?" Frances gulped as she pointed over to a cage with three hippogriffs behind the bars, which, although still babies, were about 6 feet tall, and, in Frances' opinion, were the ugliest things she'd ever laid eyes on.

"Yea, we are feedin' thos'," said Hagrid, reaching for his pocket and took out a bunch of bronze keys. Then, he went to unlock a particularly small area of the cage which seemed to be the feeding opening.

"You must be joking! They'd kill us off first before we could even feed them," said Frances disbelievingly. She stood there frozen, absolutely refusing to go anywhere near the Hippogriffs.

"They're vegetarians, hippogriffs. They won' harm ya if ya don' upset 'em," said Hagrid.

The other three went closer to the cage cautiously.

"No need to bow when ya want to feed 'em. Just make sure annoy 'em," explained Hagrid proudly.

"Come'ere Harry take this berry n' feed to this one 'ere," said Hagrid as he offered Harry a large red berry in his hand. He took it and went slowly to a silver feathered hippogriff. His hand that held the red berry was shaking frantically as he went closer to it. He shut his eyes, not daring to see what was going to happen to himself next. When he moved closed enough, the hippogriff snatched half of the berry with its beak and ate it as though it was in great hunger. Harry opened his eyes to look as the hippogriff took another bite, this time more gently. Harry grinned, reached his other hand to its head and patted it tenderly. It hesitated at first but eventually seemed to think that it was rather enjoyable as it ate.

"Tha's Silverwing, a male," said Hagrid.

"He's beautiful," Hermione complimented as she and Ron went closer to Harry.

"Com' ova'ere, you'll love them," said Hagrid, beckoning at her with some berries in his hands.

"Oh Hagrid, let her find her own ways of detention, no matter what you do, she won't show even a tiny bit of appreciation to what Fleur's done for her," sneered Ron.

In a split of second, Frances rushed over to Ron and grabbed him by the collar.

"What did you say?" asked Frances, fuming with anger.

Ron pushed her off and freed himself from her tight grab.

Hermione went over to Ron quickly.

"Are you alright?" Hermione squealed.

Ron let out a few chokes, looked up at Frances, who was too, staring down at him, and began, "For your information, Fleur arranged this detention for you, if it weren't for her, you'd probably end up in detention with Filch now or worse, Snape himself."

Ron had said the magic word, which he shouldn't have.

Frances clenched her fist tightly then swung it towards Ron's face, feeling it connect. Ron fell backwards as Hermione squealed and rushed over to help him. Harry's jaw dropped, almost to the ground. 

"So what, it's none of your business, is it?!"

She started to turn around when Ron jumped to his feet and pulled out his wand, pointing it to her and shouting, 

"Rictusempra!" 

Frances was flung almost 6 feet away from where she was standing and hit a tree. She stood up, bright red, and charged Ron, tackling him to the ground and delivering three, four, five powerful punches before being dragged off of him by Harry and Hermione.

Ron touched his lips with his fingers. It was bleeding.

"Hey! hey! hey! Whassa' matter with yo' two? I've to report this yo' know," said Hagrid, standing up.

"Ask her!" yelled Ron, who was about to launch at her again but held back by Harry & Hermione.

Frances fumed angrily and kicked over a rather large branch. She felt her lip, which was also bleeding.

"What's the matter with me!! Didn't your mother ever teach you not to hit a girl! Or was she too busy rummaging through garbage trying to find your school books?" 

She suddenly froze and thought about what she had said, and found it completely uncalled for. Frances suddenly felt bad and was about to apologize when Ron ran up slapped her hard in the face, while Hermione and Harry stood rooted to the ground.

Ron then went past Harry & Hermione to Hagrid, seized a bucket of berries from his huge grab and returned to feed Silverwing. He was mumbling words under his breath as he thrust a large berry hastily at the hippogriff's beak. Silverwing didn't look too content with him. Hermione, who had been really still, turned to Frances and said as she shook her head "How could you say that," Then, with a disgusted look on her face, she turned and went to join Ron. 

Harry, however, was still looking at Frances, who looked back, and finally managed to open his mouth and said, "You know Frances, you might want to chill out and watch yourself a little or else you'll be no worse than Draco one of these days," He too, then went to back to the hippogriffs again.

Frances blinked a few times and sighed deeply, and a few tears rolled down her face as she hastily wiped them away. Then her memory flashed back to her head, telling her what she had to do here at the first place. So took a bucket of berries from Hagrid.

"Thanks," she muttered and she headed towards the cage and fed a particularly nice looking Hippogriff that had yellowish golden feathers, away from Harry, Ron and Hermione. 

For some reason feeding the Hippogriffs made her feel happy and she ended up smiling completely for the first time in what might have been 15 years. She had completely forgotten the problems she was facing. She actually enjoyed feeding those magical creatures until - 

Hagrid moved over to her with another bucket clasped between his wrist and hip. Frances looked up at him, and he smiled. He crouched down and said "Havin' fun eh? Told ya so," Frances let down her bucket and tilted her head up to look at Hagrid again. She breathed in hard and said, "I'm sorry, Hagrid." 

"Ah, I see yo' have found out at las' how'ta say me name righ'. Oh, it's ok," He smiled broadly as he spoke, "Harry told me yo've had a bad day, told me notta go hard on ya"

Frances started to boil again when she heard this.

"Now, now, relax, actually Frances, they actually care about ya. Yo' should be more easy on 'em if ya ask me,"

            Frances felt tears were starting to fill her eyes again. She tried desperately to hold them back.

"But, they probably don't want to talk to me now, especially after they saw what S-," Frances stopped in her mid-sentence and looked back down at the hippogriff she was feeding, which was now sticking its head in the bucket, searching for more berries.

"Why don't you go and try?" said Hagrid, smiling.

Hesitantly, Frances jerked her head over Hagrid's enormous back to see Harry, Ron and Hermione. They seemed to be enjoying themselves with the hippogriffs. Hermione was patting a particularly beautiful, female one as she fed her. Ron's anger also seemed to have decreased. He was now laughing happily at Harry who was trying to teach Silverwing some tricks with his wand.

"Go on, talk to them. You might not have another chance," said Hagrid

Frances, looked down and nodded.

"I guess you're right, Hagrid," said Frances.

She got up to her feet and went over to Harry, Ron and Hermione. They turned to look at her and wondered why she came over to them.

"Guys, I want – I want to apologize…" breathed Frances.

Ron gave a hollow laugh as he stood up. The disgusted look he had a while ago had fixed on his face again.

"Is this another one of your sick jokes? Why don't you go back there and resume whatever you are here for?" said Ron disbelievingly.

"N-No, this is not a joke, I swear! I'm really sorry. But, I thought so. You won't forgive me," she said this and walked, faced down, gloomily to a nearby huge oak tree. Then she sat down, clamped her arms around her knees as she pulled them together up her chest. She blinked and a few tear drops went streaming down to her chin.

Ron looked at Harry and Hermione who looked back as though he was a suspect on trial.

"Don't look like that at me!" Ron said defensively. But, he was starting to feel rather guilty about what he had said to Frances.

Harry and Hermione seemed to have read each other's mind. They nodded and Harry pulled Ron by his hand towards Frances while Hermione went up to her, knelt down and put a comforting arm around her. Frances now felt even more regretful than ever. Her eyes watered as she looked at Hermione, who smiled. Hermione reached down her pocket, took out a piece of tissue and handed it to her. Frances hardly managed a smile and took it. Ron, who had been driven by Harry, had had to make quite an effort to pull his wrist out of Harry's grasp.

"Oh all right, do you really…mean it?" asked Ron, massaging his wrist.

            Frances looked up at Ron with her eyes glistening with tears.

"Yes," Frances answered honestly.

"Sincerely?" asked Harry.

Frances turned to Harry.

"Cross my heart," said Frances.

"I'm really sorry for what I've done," she added, turning back to Hermione.

"Oh it's ok, everybody makes mistakes, as long as you realise them, we forgive you," said Hermione beaming at her.

"Yeah, it's all right, it's just that I hate being poor," said Ron.

"Oh Ron, I'm really sorry I said that," Frances blinked and tears trickled down her face again.

"It's ok, I'm used to be called that," Ron quickly added as Hermione glared at him.

"I'm glad everything's over now," – said Harry grinning – "so let's try again, friends?" he added as he stuck out his hand for a shake.

Frances looked at his hand for a moment. She quickly wiped her eyes with the tissue and shook Harry's hand.

"Friends," said Frances beaming.

Harry then pulled her up. Hagrid from afar was wiping his eyes with the back of his hand. They then went back to the cage and continued to feed the hippogriffs. They were having the time of their lives. 

"O, I think the' four o'ya better go back up the castle now," said Hagrid, after about an hour.

"Yea, I think we should. Don't want Snape to catch us this late," said Ron.

"Well, I guess I'll see you guys here again tomorrow, huh?" said Frances as she fed her last berry to a male hippogriff.

"That won' be necessary, Frances. See, Fleur told me ter keep ya in detention 'till you are tolerant," – looking at Harry, Ron and Hermione – "…with them. Well, look yo' are friends now, so ya no longer be needin' anymore detentions, eh?" said Hagrid, grinning broadly.

The four of them smiled at each other. Afterwards, they said 'good-bye' to Hagrid and went back up the castle, to the hospital wing. After they Ron and Frances got their medicine for their wounds, they bided each other 'good-night' and set off to their dormitories.

Frances walked to her common room and muttered the password, then walked inside, a big smile spread across her face. She had not been this happy before, it was a whole new feeling to her. Frances plopped herself onto a couch and picked up the Witch Weekly's to read when she heard a familiar drawling voice greet her. 

"Hello Frances," said Malfoy, appearing on the top of the steps that lead to the boy's dormitories. 

Crabbe and Goyle, like always, were behind him. Their fat arms folded upon their chests. 

"Oh, hello Draco," Frances greeted.

"Back from detention?" he said as he walked down the stairs.

Crabbe and Goyle were trailing behind him.

"How did you know I was in detention?" asked Frances in surprise as she stood up.

"The whole school knows about it," said Malfoy.

"Oh," she replied shortly and sighed.

The sadness that had left Frances began to arouse in her again. Now that the whole school knew what happened between her and Snape, where was she going to hide her face?

"But, what happened 'till Professor Snape blasted you out of his class, Frances?" he asked as he sat down on the leather couch, cross-legged.

"Uh, I've to tell you that in private," said Frances, looking at Crabbe and Goyle.

Crabbe and Goyle looked at each other in puzzlement.

"Well?? You heard her... move!" said Malfoy in a higher tone.

Crabbe and Goyle still stood there stupidly.

"We need some privacy?? Frances and I? Excuse us, please?" Malfoy added.

"Oh," Goyle said.

"Now?" asked Crabbe.

"Yes, Now!" said Malfoy, sounding annoyed.

They kept throwing glances back at Malfoy and Frances as they walked up silently up their dormitories.

She made sure they were completely out of ear shot before she smiled and moved closer to him. She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, letting her lips linger there a little longer than necessary. 

"So, what got you into detention?" asked Malfoy, pulling himself away a little, clearly confused at her sudden act of affection. 

"Well," - she said – "Draco, the reason I got in trouble in Snape's class is partly well - your fault," 

Malfoy frowned. 

"What the hell are you talking about?" He asked, suddenly sounding so rude. Frances ignored this, took a deep breath and said, "Well Draco, Snape says that I'm a distraction to you in class... and well... if your grades don't go up, I'll be in big trouble..."

"What? _He did not," said Malfoy disbelievingly, pulling himself further away from Frances._

"Well, he did all right," said Frances, looking at him.

"Would you put more effort into your work? Please? Snape's going to cook me if he's still not satisfied with your potions test next month," she added.

"Nobody's forced me to do anything, it's my life and nobody is going to ruin it. Not even you," he said.

Frances sighed.

"Please Draco... just try?" she pleaded. 

He looked away, "I don't care what that old man says. Besides, I've tried hard enough to keep grades up!" Frances went closer, trying not to anger him any more than he already was, and ran her fingers through his hair. 

"Please, Draco... just promise me you'll just consider it" 

He looked at her, who made a puppy look on her face.

He went silent for a moment. At long last, Frances let out her breath in content when he said - "I guess I can consider it," Frances smiled and jumped, kissing him on the cheek again. 

"Oh, thank you, Draco! Thank you!"

"But after I've done all the hard work, it won't my fault if I still don't get good grades," said Malfoy.

Frances nodded, still clearly happy, and hugged him tightly. "I understand..." she kissed him on the cheek again and sighed, calming down a bit. Malfoy hesitated as she did that.

"OK, I'm tired now, I'm off to bed," said Malfoy, yawning.

Frances nodded and bid him goodnight, giving him one last kiss on the cheek. "I'll see you in the morning, Draco. Goodnight."

Draco turned his back and headed up the stairs. He didn't say goodnight however, instead he just raised his right hand and waved lazily as he went up the spiral staircase.


End file.
